INTRODUCTION: ROBOTIC OBSCURITIES was set up for people to be able to enjoy some (more) obscure music, for free. Most of this stuff is related to the Robotic Empire label in some way or another, so it typically shouldn't piss off anyone to see this stuff available here. However, if you were a participant of something that's posted here and do not want it online anymore, please get in touch. I've tried to keep the posting of available, officially released material to a minimum... but that doesn't mean you still might not want something posted here.

DISCLAIMER: To everyone downloading demos/live stuff/etc: please realize that a lot of the material posted here is by no means "final" and thus, some stuff should probably be taken with a grain of salt. All that being said, enjoy!

TO OTHER BLOGGERS: If you re-post stuff I've uploaded, that's fine (the whole point of this thing is sharing music) but PLEASE be decent and link back to this blog if you're just gonna blatantly copy & paste what I've written and/or use the same download links. Thanks.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Over the years I've associated many changes to the record label with a certain group of musicians from Sterling, Virginia, specifically the Taylor brothers Mike & Chris and their surrounding friends. In the formative stages the first Robodog Records release was with pg.99 (split with my highschool band, Reactor No. 7), and even before then the first ever punk rock show I went to was in a basement to see the guys previous band, Nit Pic.

Years later when I "got serious" with the label and decided to change the name to Robotic Empire, a pg.99 7" release was again the (re)starting point. Throughout the years the label has evolved, and so have these musicians. Mannequin and then Pygmy Lush are just a couple of the bands the core dudes here formed that we went on to release records for... and I've only enjoyed their newest material more and more as the times go by.

Its no major surprise that I've associated another big life transition with some songs these guys have created. Pygmy Lush played in Richmond on October 24th, 2009 and it was easily one of my favorite sets seeing them play. They opened it up with a joint-set with Des Ark (playing songs they'd all written together in the weeks prior) and followed that with a set of a few oldies and 4 new goodies. Those 4 unreleased songs are what I'm posting here:

Brother JK "Jeeb" thankfully captured these songs via various microphones, and I am largely indebted to him as well as the band for giving me the soundtrack to some glorious yet difficult times. Songs can have different meanings from what you may take from the lyrics, but if anyone else out there gets even an instance of what I got from this stuff, I'm beyond satisfied. It can be a crazy world, and having a little audio help to get through it all can make a huge difference.

These were all recorded live so please keep that in mind when listening, and also that I have no idea what I'm doing with "mastering" so all I was able to do was make the recordings a bit louder... and thus, song to song the volume fluctuates a good bit. Jah willing these guys will actually get into a studio sooner than later to properly document these, and all the others that they're already cooking up. I can't wait to hear what they've got for us next, as they'll surely become the new soundtrack to an ever changing existence. Godspeed & peace out!!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

This blog is something I wanted to make somewhat personal and give the backstory to all the music posted here, but the reality is "extra" time just isn't something that's likely to be in my sphere in the foreseeable future. So I'm just gonna post things here with the super down n' dirty, realquick explanation. Hope you dig the jams, that's what matters anyway.

DRUGS OF FAITH:I think this is all their demo/promo stuff but the Questions demo (which I've never actually seen or heard - if anyone has that plz post a link in the "comments"). Total grind n' roll from Richard "The Grindfather" Johnson, infamously of the longrunning and generally underappreciated ENEMY SOIL, and later INDEX and AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED. The "mastering" is sort of hit and miss throughout these, but I normalized the volume the best I could for everything. Most of the pre-2008 songs ended up re-recorded for their debut "mini LP" on Selfmadegod Records. The 2008 demo has drummer extraordinaire Jake Cregger (TRIAC, HISSING CHOIR, JESUS OF NAZARETH, etc) and totally smokes! While he's not in the band anymore, it still sort of shows where DRUGS OF FAITH may be going, as they just announced a forthcoming sophomore album (yet again for release on Selfmadegod). Grindfather, hail!